The Ripper and the Sorceress
by Alias001
Summary: Inspired by (but not a complete answer to) Quatermass' "My Little Sister, Jack the Ripper"-challenge. Summary coming soon. FemHarry!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Magic. The mystic arts. In modern times, it is divided into two main "trees". Magecraft and Witchcraft. Completely different methods of utilizing the magical energy known as Mana. Almost completely unable to coexist. Almost. In truth, there's a third "tree" of magic that neither one of the other "trees" are willing to accept. Sorcery. Members of this "tree" are blessed with the ability to utilize and combine the arts of the other "trees", achieving feats akin to that out of the age of gods, by utilizing magical energy in its absolute purest form, Ether.

Practitioners of Sorcery, referred to as Sorcerers and Sorceresses, were considered freaks of nature by both societies of Mages (practitioners of Magecraft, regardless of gender) and Wizards (practitioners of Witchcraft, Witch being the female equivalent of a Wizard). As such, most Sorcerers and Sorceresses, were either self taught or taken in by a master as an apprentice, since the academies for neither Magecraft nor Witchcraft were willing to accept them.

One of these practitioners is the sixteen year old Sorceress going by the name of Raven Rogue Arsène. But she was born under the name of Emerald Lily Potter. A former member of the Wizards house of Potter turned street thief. She was the result of a drunken one night stand between her (former) mother (a Witch) and an unknown male Mage. At the age of five, because of an accidental casting of Sorcery, she was cast aside by her family and left on her own on the streets of London, where she met the woman who became her new mother figure at the age of eight, Reika Rikudou, a prostitute.

At the age of thirteen, through the use of her Sorcery, she somehow managed to steal an item from the British Museum of History, which turned out to be a still fully functional Mystic Code created in London by a Mage during the Industrial Revolution. It's name was The Iron Weavers, a pair of gloves that utilized very thin but strong steel wires, which could be manipulated in a very wide variety of ways through the use of Magecraft.

Two years later, the Mystic Code known as Mercury Wings, found its place in Ravens collection. This Mystic Code was a pair of energy wings, originally intended to be powered by Mana. While the wings would be a great asset in combat, in theory, they required an unbelievable amount of Mana to sustain, let alone activate, making it nearly impossible for Mages to use it. Raven however, being a Sorceress rather than a Mage, could use it very effectively and with practically no drain at all, since Ether was several time more powerful than Mana. She does however always risk overloading the Mystic Code, meaning that she always needs to stay calm and regularly regulate her power output for the exact same reason why she is even able to use it effectively.

And now, at the age of sixteen, she finds herself along with her mother figure, Reika Rikudou, in Romania, albeit reluctantly. The reason? She got tricked into stealing a set of knives, which allegedly belonged to the infamous serial killer, Jack the Ripper, from the British National History Museum in London by a Mage named Hyouma Sagara. Best way to describe the guy? One mean son of a bitch. He had dragged Raven and Reika along with him for multiple reasons. He intended to use Reika as a sacrifice for a form of summoning ritual in order to summon the alleged original owner of the knives, since Reika was a prostitute and all (confirmed) victims of Jack the Ripper were prostitutes. As for what he intended to do with Raven… well… let's just say that he has ended up in prison multiple times for reasons of lower morale than the average Mage's (which is practically nonexistent!).

And the summoning went almost completely according to his plan. Almost. What went wrong was that while Jack the Ripper did appear, (not that he noticed until it was too late) he wasn't the master. Nor was Reika, who couldn't be a master for two reasons. One: she had no magic to begin with. Two: she was dead, murdered by none other than Hyouma Sagara himself, using the very same knife used as the catalyst for the summoning. Which could only mean one thing, Raven, a Sorceress, a teenager, a girl(!), was the master! In an act of rage, he tried to lash out at her, only to receive a serrated dagger through his throat, curiosity of none other than Jack, who as it turned out, was a little girl at the apparent age of ten (give or take). After overcoming the initial shock, Raven spoke hesitantly to her little saver.

"Uhm… hi there." Said Raven, catching Jack's attention. "Uhm… thanks for saving me. You're Jack the Ripper, right?"

"Yup! That's our name Mommy!" Exclaimed Jack, loudly while removing her dagger from Hyouma Sagara's throat, earning a raised eyebrow from Raven.

"Mommy huh? I don't think I'm ready for that. How about big sis instead?" Asked Raven as she opened Sagara's briefcase, and gracelessly threw most of its contents on the floor, before she found and equipped herself with her Mystic Codes, putting Iron Weaver on her hands and securing the Mercury Wings in its standby mode, which looked like a metallic backpack, on her back. "What do you say Jackie?"

"Hm… big sis… big sis." Said Jack while tilting her head side to side, thinking about it, before running over to Raven and hug her. "Meh, we like it. So what now, big sis?"

"For now, we sit back and try to enjoy the fireworks for as long as possible before getting involved in this. So let's try and find a good vantage point. I guess it is like the not-so-old saying goes, welcome to the Madhouse, Raven." Said Raven, before realizing something. "But before any of that, you need a new outfit." At that remark, Jack just tilted her head, clearly not understanding what was wrong with her outfit. "People will definitely get the wrong idea if you're seen in those clothes. That, and it makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Oh! Sorry! We'll fix that as soon as possible!"

"*sign* this is gonna be a long night." Said Raven as she opened and made her exit from the scene through a window, with Jack not far behind.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Raven was walking down an alleyway with a recently stolen wallet in her hands. After removing the money and placing said money in… a safe place (her cleavage), she took a look inside the wallet and apparently found some _interesting_ pictures (if her widened eyes, nosebleed and slightly perverted laughter were anything to go on). Said pictures were enough reason for her to keep the wallet, if only to look at for herself or use as blackmail material later. The owner of the wallet was a member of the Yggdmillennia family/Black faction, Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia.

Jack wasn't far behind her, now wearing some less… revealing clothes. She was currently wearing a few sizes too large black t-shirt with the artwork from the Iron Maiden-album, Powerslave, on the front of the shirt along with a pair of red shorts that Raven had stolen from a nearby clothesline. She still had her original outfit underneath her new clothes though, so that she could remove her new ones in case she would have to fight and her new clothes only got in the way. All n all, she was comfortable in her new clothes, as was her master/big sister.

As the two walked onto a market, they spotted two people that looked a bit out of place. One was a blond green eyed teenage girl wearing a white tube top and a pair of jeans shorts along with a red leather jacket and a pair of leather boots. The other was a man in black leather pants wearing a black leather jacket. He had a few scars next to his right eye, which was covered, along with his left eye, by a pair of very dark sunglasses. His hair kind of looked like the mane of a lion. All and all, he had the look and vibe of a dangerous bounty hunter.

Thankfully, the the two of them didn't pay attention to neither Raven nor Jack, though Jack had the Presence Concealment-skill she gained for being an Assassin-classed Heroic Spirit to thank for that, while Raven used a trick normally used by wizards and witches which basically mimics the Presence Concealment-skill, she had taught herself. While the trick is useful when getting noticed wasn't something you wanted to happen, it put quite the mental strain on the brain, often leading to migraines as a result, which was practically guaranteed when a Sorcerer or Sorceress used it since the mental strain was greater when they used it compared to when a witch or wizard used it.

As what was basically a rule of thumb, whenever a Sorcerer or Sorceress used a spell or ability belonging originally to either Magecraft or Witchcraft, the effects were twice as powerful as it would be normally, but the same was also said for whatever side effects the spell or ability would cause. But it allowed for some… creative uses of certain spells and abilities. Like using the _Lumos Maxima_-spell like a flashbang, without the bang of course, making its blinding light a very effective escape tool. An ability that only a Sorcerer or Sorceress could use was the ability known as Transmutation, the power to deconstruct and reconstruct matter into any shape the caster desired, as long as they had the necessary _ingredients_. While it could be used for the deconstruction and reconstruction of matter into relatively simple objects on the fly, the best transmutations usually used more material and more often than not a transmutation-circle.

Once the blond and the lion-guy left, Jack and Raven stopped using their respective Presence concealing abilities, and Raven was promptly struck by a migraine afterwards. It was quite the dreadful experience to say the least.

"Perfect. And I just had to use that trick just as that part of the month was approaching. Next week is gonna be nothing but hell." Complained Raven while holding her head and leaning towards a wall.

"You Okay, big sis?" Asked Jack with a somewhat worried expression on her face.

"Not really, but I'll manage… somehow. Ugh… damn it all, bloody migraines, bloody hormones…" ranted Raven, which was tuned out by Jack rather quickly as something else caught her attention. A quartet of people in nearly identical uniforms and, as a shared trait, red eyes. Homunculi.

"_BIG SIS!"_ Shouted Jack to Raven over their telepathic link, which immediately stopped Ravens ranting. "_We're not sure but we think we found something of interest."_

"_What did you find?"_

"_Homunculi. Definitely belonging to the Black Faction. Should we follow them and rip their hearts out for a quick snack?"_

"_If they're still in town at midnight, then go ahead and rip their hearts out, but don't eat them immediately! Save them for when you intend to use your Noble Phantasm, Maria the Ripper. Either that or when you need to extend the duration of your other Noble Phantasm, The Mist. A single Homunculus-heart should have enough Mana for either a free use of Maria the Ripper, or an extra hour of duration for The Mist."_

"_Why can't we do it now!?"_

"_Two reasons. One, it's the middle of the day, people will panic. Two, I live by the philosophy of fighting smarter, not harder. While I am aware that since Ether is several times more powerful than Mana, the drain for the use of a Noble Phantasm won't be as large as it would be with Mana, I'd rather be safe than sorry and have enough Ether to not only sustain your existence, but also have enough to be able to fight on my own if needed."_

"_We understand, big sis. By the way big sis, if we manage to win this, what would you wish for?"_ Asked Jack, who was genuinely curious.

"_My wish? I'd probably wish to have you bound to me as a familiar rather than as a Servant, that way you'll be able to be with big sis till the end of my life. And we end up losing but I still survive, I'll find some other way to make my familiar. Does that satisfy you Jack?"_

"_Yup! Sounds good enough for us! We'd be happy to be able to stick around with you after all of this big sis!"_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

Today was not a good day for the Black faction. They had not only found the intended master of the Assassin of Black, Hyouma Sagara, along with some woman, dead in the hotel room the summoning was performed, but no Servant, meaning that someone else must have become the master of the Servant. In addition, Fiore, who volunteered to greet Hyouma, had gotten her wallet stolen at some time when she was still in the town.

The only good thing they had gained was a very crude description of what the Servant's master looked like. A black haired girl at the age of sixteen (give or take) with a well developed figure for her age. Fiore had gained this information when she overheard some people talking to each other about them having seen a girl with that description jumping out a window with another girl, who was in her preteens, in toe in the middle of the night.

Somewhere else, in a town not that far away from Trifas, the duo that was Raven and Jack were currently sitting on the roof of the local church's bell tower. Well, Raven was sitting, and Jack was sleeping, using Raven's lap as a pillow. Raven smiled as she affectionately patted Jack on the head, which made the little serial killer snuggle closer to her. She almost found it hard to believe that the little girl resting her head on her lap was/is one of the most infamous serial killers in British (if not global!) history.

She truly felt like she had a younger sister, which made her start recalling the few memories she had with her younger brother, James Potter Jr., who was three years younger than her. She really wanted to see him again at some point but didn't know how to approach him. Then an idea suddenly struck her.

"_Maybe Medea can help. It'll most likely not be cheap, but it'll be worth it."_ Thought Raven, thinking about a certain friend of hers. Medea Kuzuki. A former Heroic spirit whose wish was to be reincarnated so she could be with her new then-boyfriend-now-husband, Souichirou Kuzuki. She was summoned as a Caster during a normal holy grail war. Nowadays she owns and runs a workshop in Diagon Alley, just on the edge between Diagon and Knockturn Alley, where she craft and sell various items she makes using her Item Construction-skill she somehow managed to keep despite losing her status as a Heroic Spirit _**(A/N: Before anyone ask, yes. This Medea is the one from Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works)**_. Raven first met the Witch of Betrayal when she got caught by Medea after trying and succeeding in stealing her wallet, but didn't get very far, at the age of seven. The two of them had been friends ever since. Medea had made and sent her a present for Raven's eighth birthday. An amulet which would send anyone Raven considered worthy of her trust a warning if she somehow, for any reason, found herself in truly hopeless situation, which Raven hasn't 'till this day ever removed from her neck. Medea had provided Raven with work a few times, mainly serving as an assistant in the workshop or as a delivery girl. Raven personally hoped that one day, she would be able to become Medea's apprentice and later business partner. But she knew she'd have to win, or at the very least survive, this greater grail war first. After a few minutes of pointless thinking, she joined Jack in the realm of sleep.

Their peaceful sleep was sadly shattered by the sounds of combat, explosions and gunfire, originating from the streets beneath them. While the moonlight did help make the fight visible, it was still a bit too dark for Raven to see the combatants properly. Fortunately, she had a solution for that problem.

"Noctis Oculus." Chanted Raven, casting the Night Vision-charm, Noctis Oculus, one of the few spells anyone capable of using magic, be it through Witchcraft, Magecraft or Sorcery, could use, granting the caster… well… Night Vision. Once the effects of the spell kicked in, Ravens vision became clear as daylight, letting her see who was participating in the fight below perfectly.

One of the combatants was the blond girl from yesterday, now wearing a red and silver colored suit of armor, swinging a broadsword matching her armor's color scheme. Her opponents were a group of much larger golems. Taking her armor and weapon into account, Raven deduced that the blond was a Servant of the Saber-class. Meaning that the Lion-guy from yesterday was in the greatest of likelihoods her master. The Lion-guy himself was engaged in combat with a gang of homunculi. He was using various necromancy-enhanced hearts-turned-grenades and a necromancy-enhanced shotgun. At the sight of seeing one of the Lion-guy's heart-grenades (or as Raven like to call 'em, Heartbreakers) explode, Jack made an off hand comment among the lines of _We're not eating any heart that guy offer us_, which Raven found kind of funny, allowing herself to let a giggle escape her lips. Once the necromancer-and-knight-duo left the scene, the Sorceress-and-serial-killer-duo jumped off the roof and went to…_work_.

"Alright Jack. Let's go to work." Ordered Raven. "You check the homunculi for any usable hearts for later use. I'll salvage what I can from the golems. I might be able to make something useful from their cores."

"Got it big sis! Dim didim dee dum…" sang Jack in a disturbingly cheerful tone as she started removing hearts from the dead homunculi. She found a total of three usable hearts and put said hearts in a plastic bag.

"Son of a bitch!" Shouted Raven suddenly, having discovered something disturbing (judging by the tone of her voice).

"What's wrong big sis?" Asked Jack, obviously concerned for her master/big sister.

"Who in their morally right mind would use philosopher stones as a golems magical reactor core!?" Exclaimed Raven. "There's only two kinds of people I who would deliberately use philosopher stones as magical reactor cores. A completely amoral golem master, or an unaware golem maker who gets their reactor cores from an outside source." She had learned the process of making philosopher stones by accidentally decrypting a book by Nicholas Flamel which contained the recipe for philosopher stones encrypted in its text. And the main ingredient for a philosopher stone was fresh souls, preferably human souls. The stones could be used for a great variety of purposes, but the most common use for it was either as a magical or alchemical amplifier. The stone had a paradoxical law around it. It was illegal to create philosopher stones, but not illegal to use them. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that whoever made these stones used homunculi to do so. I might hate how these were made, but they might be useful later, though I honestly hope that I won't have to use 'em."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Jack was at the moment scouting the area around the town that Raven had decided to set up shop, in an abandoned old wine cellar. While cheerfully humming the Ducktales theme song. Bless the Grail for knowledge about the modern world and culture. And Jack was definitely enjoying the various cartoons and similar medias. Which made her more eager to finish her _patrol,_ so that could go back to watching a particular lighthearted comedy show she's basically fallen in love with. It was called RWBY Chibi, if she remembered correctly. Either that or another round of Looney Tunes. She found the segments featuring the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote particularly funny.

She eventually found something of interest at the very edge of town. A total of three Servants and a quite fat man who was presumably the Master of one of the Servants. Two of the Servants were busy having a showdown against each other, which apparently was enough to render them unaware of Jack's presence, not that they would have been aware of it in the first place due to the Presence Concealment-skill. Seeing as the brawl could be entertaining, Jack did what anyone would have done, find a comfortable spot and enjoy the show, in her case, a rather thick branch of a nearby tree. Once she was comfortable, she reached for a small leather pouch, that Raven had made for her, and pulled out a lollipop. Raven quickly discovered that Jack had quite the sweet tooth, with a particular love for strawberry flavored candies, particularly lollipops and wine gums.

"_This'll be good. A little bit of entertainment before heading back to base."_ Thought Jack as she started sucking on the lollipop.

"_Got anything interesting to report Jack?"_ Asked Raven suddenly over the telepathic link, almost startling Jack in the process.

"_Other than a pair of Servants having a brawl with a third Servant and a really fat guy of a Master watching the fight? Nope! Their fight is quite interesting so far."_

"_A fight between Servants? Damn. Almost wish I was there so I could watch it myself. Anyway, as the saying goes, information win wars. That being said, anything that can help us identify them?"_

"_One of them is fighting with a spear and the other one is fighting with a two-handed sword. The spear wielding guy is also fighting with fire-based powers. We'll call him Mr. Shishkebab."_ Said Jack, giggling at the nickname she just given the fire-wielding spearman, which caused Raven to release a snicker as she two found it humorous.

"_Sounds like Mr. Shishkebab fits the bill for the Lancer-class. Heh, Shishkebab. And taking his pyrokinesis into the equation, it's somewhat safe to assume that he's a demigod from some mythology. His divine parent was probably either a sun- or, at least, fire-deity."_ Said Raven, repeating the information while taking notes for research, so that she can at least try to identify the Lancer later. "_I think that's everything I can work with for now. Continue watching their fight and head back to base once they finish."_

"_Got it Big Sis!"_ Exclaimed Jack as she cut the telepathic connection while pulling the lollipop out of her mouth with a pop.

The fight continued for a few more minutes before the lancer suddenly seemed to back off as the sun started rising. The two Servants exchanged a few words, something about a rematch, before Mr. Shishkebab astralized and seemingly took his leave, though he didn't really seem happy about it for some reason. Jack took that as her own que to leave and return to base. This time humming the theme song from the dubbed version of the original Dragon Ball-cartoon from the 90s, Mystical Adventure. While she didn't really understand the plot of the show, she definitely liked the theme song and found it rather catchy.

An hour or so later, Jack eventually reached the entrance to the spot where her big sister had set up shop, an abandoned old vine-cellar, with still working electricity and (much to the shared joy of the _sisters_) WiFi. Inside the vine-cellar Raven was currently working on identifying the Servant Jack had given the nickname Mr. Shishkebab. By searching on the internet. Jack just grabbed an iPad and started watching cartoons. Five or so minutes later, she was laughing her so hard her stomach hurt. She had accidentally stumbled upon a compilation video of a character known as Lancer being very unlucky, usually resulting in some other character nearby exclaiming the phrase "Lancer died!", from a comedy show called Carnival Phantasm. Though some of the characters seemed somewhat familiar for some reason. Her favorite moment from the series so far was from a city wide race, where Lancer crashed his Gáe Bolg-car at the first curve, because dragsters can't turn.

Meanwhile, Raven had managed to narrow the identity of Mr. Shishkebab down to a single candidate that fit his description. Karna, the hero of charity. A very dangerous and highly destructive powerhouse. Definitely someone that Jack would definitely not be able to beat, even if he was weakened and two out of the three conditions for Jack's Noble Phantasm, Maria the Ripper, was fulfilled. Jack's Noble Phantasm, Maria the Ripper, was a curse-based attack that caused increased damage if three conditions were fulfilled, and these conditions were: 1. The environment is misty (or foggy), a condition that Jack could easily fulfill by herself with her other Noble Phantasm, The Mist, Darkend Misty Metropolis. 2. It's nighttime, pretty self explanatory. 3. The target is female. If all three conditions were fulfilled, Maria the Ripper could be a very lethal attack, but even if all three conditions were met, it wouldn't always guarantee a guaranteed kill-strike. As a result, Raven had given Jack an order to only use it when a still materialized Servant was weakened by a battle against another Servant, or on an isolated master, if The Mist hadn't killed them already through its toxic composition.

After a few minutes or so of strategic thinking, a somewhat evil idea suddenly struck her.

"Hey Jack!" Exclaimed Raven, catching the little serial killer's attention, which caused Jack to pause the video she was watching.

"Humph?"

"In the mood to… manipulate the competition so to speak?"

"Definitely. But wouldn't that count as cheating?" Asked Jack innocently.

"Puh-lease. Don't you know the old saying? All is fair in love and war. Now… let us do what assassins does best."

"And that would be?"

"We fight smart and dirty, little sis. We fight dirty."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

The Black faction had losing many assets in the holy grail war, most notably their homunculi. In fact, they've had lost an amount of roughly five of them per night over the course of an entire week straight, meaning a total of thirty five. All of whom were exclusively female with their hearts, among with other intestines, missing.

Unbeknownst to the Black faction, this was Jack and Raven's work. Raven called their plan, Operation: Pitch Black Sabotage, with the main objective being to (as self explanatory as the name suggested it was) sabotage the Black faction. Mainly by removing their main source of security, the homunculi, while at the same time collecting hearts for Jack to use later.

But this time, Jack didn't come to the Yggdmillennia castle to collect hearts, she went there to scout out the competition on the side of the Black faction for Raven. For that particular reason, she had a special camera that her Big sister had enchanted with her. The camera was an old Polaroid, a type of camera that printed out the photos as soon as they were taken. And through Raven's enchantment, the camera Jack was carrying would also print out the name of the person in the photo below the picture. That is if you knew that you were supposed to read the text on the photo backwards. Raven had rigged the enchantment to print out the name of the person in the photos backwards as a form of safety precaution. Meaning that unless you knew that the text was supposed to be read backwards, it was nothing more than incomprehensible nonsense.

While the actual infiltration was as easy as it had been for the past week for Jack, getting the pictures was a bit more challenging for Jack. Especially the ones that Raven requested of the girl she already had some pictures of, Fiore Yggdmillennia. The request for the pictures of her was, the less clothing the better. The others were a bit easier for Jack to snap.

One Servant she managed to get a picture of was a blond woman with red eyes, who was talking to Fiore while sharing a bath with the other girl when Jack snapped a few pictures. The text on the pictures of the blonde woman read: _**F-A-retlA hsemagliG**_. Or if read backwards: _**Gilgamesh Alter-A-F**_. The fact that she and Fiore were having a conversation in a bath made one thing obvious, Gilgamesh was Fiore's Servant in this greater grail war. While Jack might be young (or as young as a Heroic Spirit, who would never age, at the physical and mental age of ten-ish could get), she wasn't stupid enough to try and eliminate an opponent several times more powerful than herself. Observing them from a relatively safe distance however was something she was more willing to do though. After snapping a few extra pictures of Fiore and Gilgamesh, Jack left to find another Servant.

Fortunately for her, she didn't really need to go far to do so. In fact, she didn't even need to leave her hiding spot on the rooftop as a rather short (and feminine) figure entered the courtyard of the Yggdmillennia castle. Though through the way they moved, it didn't seem that they had permission by their master. The figure had their hair in a braided ponytail… and said hair was pink. A few quickly snapped photos revealed two things about the Servant. One, their true name was Astolfo, and two, Astolfo wasn't a female who hid her gender, Astolfo was a guy who chose to dress like a girl.

"_Hey sis!"_ Exclaimed Jack over her telepathic connection.

"_Yeah? What is it Jack?"_ Answered Raven on her end.

"_Nothing really, just a heads up regarding one of the Servants of the Black faction."_

"_Okay… shoot."_

"_One of the Servants true name is Astolfo… and he's a crossdresser."_

"… _I guess that crossdressing figures of history and legend aren't limited to the females. Huh, the more you know. By the way, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that he's their Rider. Anything else to report?"_

"_Not really, and we don't think we'll be able to snap any more pictures. Shall we head back for tonight?"_ Asked Jack over the telepathic link, before noticing something. "_Never mind, the Black Servants seems to be up to something that requires their presence outside the castle. Should we follow them?"_

"_Sure, go ahead. Just make sure that you get neither spotted nor caught. If you do get caught for some reason, you have my full permission to unleash your Noble Phantasm, The Mist, to cover your escape."_

"_Got it Big Sis!"_ Exclaimed Jack as she started following the Servants of the Black faction from the treetops.

After a few minutes of shadowing most of the Servants of the Black faction, except for Gilgamesh, who remained at the castle with her master, which made Raven suspect, after Jack notified her about it, that Gilgamesh was the Black faction's Archer, Jack managed to snap a few pictures of three new faces, revealing their true names in the process.

The first one was a blond man in his 30s(ish) with yellowish eyes dressed in black clothing. Beneath his picture read the text, _**sepeT III eht dalV**_. Or if read correctly: _**Vlad the III Tepes**_. The infamous ruler of Romania once known as Vlad the Impaler, and after his passing through rumors, myths, legends and fiction, Count Dracula. He held himself like a king on his horse, meaning that this version of him was more focused on the ruler-aspect of his legacy.

The second one was a young red haired woman dressed in what looked like a classic wedding dress. In one of her hands, and on her right shoulder, rested a mace-like weapon. The photo revealed that her true name was Frankenstein's monster, with confused Jack slightly. Weren't monsters supposed to be scary and not… well… pretty(?). The fact that she seemed to at least try and (sadly) failing to communicate with the others through grunts made Jack (and after relaying the information, Raven) suspect that Frankie (as Jack had somewhat affectionately nicknamed her) was of the Berserker-class.

The third and last one was a man, who was wearing an outfit along with a cape and a featureless mask in gold and various shades of purple in color, who Jack (as unbelievable as it seemed) felt genuinely afraid of. In fact, she wanted to run back home to her Big Sister's warm comforting embrace as soon and fast as possible. And that's what she did, while trying her best not to get noticed.

By the time she had reached the old vine cellar, which Raven had managed to convert into not only a fully functional workshop but also a home over the course of the few weeks the greater grail war had been going on, Raven had just walked out of the newly… acquired shower, wearing nothing but a towel. Upon seeing Jack's frightened face, she rushed over to her little sister figure, who unceremoniously hugged her, accidentally making the towel fall off Raven's body and onto the floor. Rendering the green eyed Sorceress completely naked with the only thing preventing her privates from being seen being the little serial killer hugging her.

"Jack, what's wrong?" Asked Raven as she carried Jack, who had started crying into her shoulder, over to the bed the two of them had been sharing ever since Raven… acquired it a couple of weeks ago, while closing the door behind her with a word- and motionless spell.

"Servant of Black. Scary. True name, Avicebull? No Abrasive? No Advisable?" Said Jack between sobs while struggling to pronounce the Caster of Black's true name.

"Avicebron?"

"That's the one! He's scary."

"Come on Jack, it's been a long day and night. Let's go to sleep, okay?"

"Okay." Said Jack happily as she fell asleep with her head resting on her big sister's chest.

"Good night Jack. Note to self: acquire required materials to convert shower into a bathtub big enough for both me and Jack later." Whispered Raven mostly to herself as she and Jack entered the realm of dreams, not even bothering to put Jack into her pajamas nor that she was still naked, not that she would have kept the clothes on by the time she went to bed as she preferred to sleep in the nude.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

Over the course of the two following weeks since Jack's photo-op Raven had been busy not only helping her little sister figure come to terms with her apparent fear of Avicebron but also acquiring the necessary materials to convert the shower into a bathtub big enough for both her and Jack. In addition to that, she had been doing research on the Servants of the Black faction in order to narrow down possible Noble Phantasms, and doing various exercises to not only relax but also improve her magical control.

During the start of the second week, she could feel something within her stir, something that had always been there but never acknowledged. It felt wild but at the same time intelligent and most prominently, dangerous, much like herself. Not that she really would understand it until later, but she was starting to tap into a branch of Sorcery known as the Beast Within. The Beast Within was similar to a branch of Witchcraft known as Therianthropy, the art of physical transformation from human into animal through magic. Wizards and witches who tap into this particular branch of Witchcraft were referred to as Animagi. While the Beast Within and Therianthropy were similar, there still existed some major differences between the two. A Sorcerer or Sorceress' Beast Within was never a normal animal like the Animagi's animagus-form. While nobody truly understood why, the most common and accepted theory was that a Sorcerer or Sorceress couldn't transform into a normal animal because the form couldn't handle their magical power, and as a result their magic adapted a more suitable alternate form, which in most cases would be some form of magical beast.

Jack on the other hand hadn't really been doing much on her part of the weeks. Mostly just watching various cartoons or just relaxing with her big sister. The most notable event on her part was when she got dragged into a mud-fight by some of the local kids, which accidentally dragged a woman named Atalante into joining the fun. It took Raven a total of three hours to get all the mud out of Jack's hair. Upon the mentioning of Atalante's name, Raven quickly concluded that Jack had had an accidental run in with the Archer of Red, since she knew that the name Atalante belonged to the huntress who joined the Argonauts from Greek mythology. The primary reason that she recognized the name in the first place was that she had always had a fascination with the Greek Mythos and the stories within it ever since she could read.

At the moment however, the duo consisting of a Sorceress and a Heroic Spirit of the hidden blade were currently enjoying a bath together, with Jack playing with a rubber duck that was wearing a sailors uniform, while Raven was just relaxing on the opposite side. The physically older one had been thinking it was about time that they acquired the identities of the remaining members of the Red faction, but that was something they could do tomorrow night. She was however suddenly interrupted from her thoughts by something bumping into her rather large chest, which turned out to be the rubber duck Jack had been playing with. Apparently Jack wanted a playmate, and Raven was quite happy to comply as she used a bit of her Sorcery to send the rubber duck back to Jack while also playfully hitting Jack in the face with some water. Which caused the little serial killer to release a giggle in response. Raven was enjoying the opportunity to have a younger sibling even if it was in all but blood, letting herself enjoy the moment when Jack shot a beam of water using the rubber duck, causing her to let a happy laugh escape her lips as she _retaliated_ by throwing a small sphere of water she had created from the water in the bath using her Sorcery, hitting Jack on the top of her head. Minutes later, the two sisters in all but blood went to bed, with Jack wearing a black and gold colored pajamas while Raven wore… well nothing… like she preferred to, both of them wearing smiles on their faces.

The following day the two _sisters _found themselves in a park within the town, with Jack playing in a jungle gym with a few of the local kids, while Raven sat on a nearby bench with a fond smile on her face. Not that the kids remembered, but they were the same kids that got Jack involved in the mud-fight days prior.

"May I join you or is the seat taken?" Asked someone suddenly from behind Raven, which not only broke her out of her train of thought but also made her turn around and face the person behind her, who turned out to be a green eyed woman with greenish hair and a rather curvy but not particularly buxom figure. She was wearing an open green coat with a white shirt underneath along with a black skirt and a pair of black boots _**(I used the picture of Atalante's traveling outfit as reference for her casual out-of-combat-outfit, the picture is on her wiki-page)**_. Already knowing the identity of the woman in front of her, Raven was somewhat caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, she wasn't exactly willing to spill information to an enemy (and potentially through manipulation and trickery, an unwitting ally). On the other, she had the opportunity to learn a thing or two about a mythical figure that had for the majority of her childhood been something of an idol along with her fellow female Argonaut, Medea, whom Raven actually were friends with. Deciding to do a bit of both she gestured at the seat on the bench next to herself.

"Help yourself, Ms…?"

"You can just call me Atalante. Never been one for formalities." Said the Archer of Red, Atalante, as she took her seat on the bench next to Raven. In response to hearing Atalante's name, Raven released a fake snicker. "What is so funny?"

"Oh nothing. It's just that you're the second person I've met who shares their name with one of the Argonauts from Greek mythology." Replied Raven while maintaining her fake snicker.

"Oh. And which one does this person share their name with?" Asked Atalante in a tone of genuine curiosity as her eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Medea."

"… Someone's parents have an odd sense of humor when it comes to names."

"Says the woman named after the huntress who got turned into a lion at the end of her story through a curse the gods laid upon her." Deadpanned Raven, earning a wince from the heroine of legend next to her. "_Oh? Touched a nerve. That might be useful later."_ Apparently that was a part of her legend that Atalante wasn't particularly proud of. In a (not that she knew it) failed attempt to hide her wince, Atalante let loose an obviously forced laugh.

"Heh! I guess you're right. I don't really have any room to talk now do I?"

"Nope. You don't." Said Raven in a rather amused tone as Jack walked up to her, earning the attention of the heroic spirit of the bow who was looking rather grumpy.

"Can we go home now or something big sis? We're bored." Stated Jack before making a rather adorable pout.

"Wait! Sisters!? You two look nothing alike!" Exclaimed Atalante as she shifted her gaze back and forth between the two _sisters_.

"She's adopted."

"Oh. That explains a lot." Exclaimed Atalante as she teasingly ruffled around with Jack's hair, much to the smaller heroic spirit's annoyance.

"Stop that!" Exclaimed Jack in an obviously annoyed tone, making Atalante stop messing with the little serial killer's hair and start chuckling teasingly, earning an adorable pout from the heroic spirit of the hidden blade. "Stupid Cat-lady."

"Hey!" Came from both Atalante and Raven in unison (though why Raven felt offended by the comment was anyone's guess).

"Never mind. Let's go home for now Jackie."

"Okay! Goodbye Cat-lady!" Exclaimed Jack while waving goodbye to Atalante, who returned the favor, as she and Raven left the park.

"Okay, that's two, maybe three, down and five, possibly four, Servants of Red to go Jack. Atalante, the Archer of Red, Karna, the Lancer of Red and whoever that knight was paired up with the Lion-guy, the Saber of Red. Tonight, the two of us will be making preparations to move our base. We'll leave for trifas tomorrow." Stated Raven as she and Jack were on their way home.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven:

Raven was at the moment having a severe headache. There wasn't really a good place for her to convert into a base/workshop/home in the city of Trifas. At all. She had a rather large trolley bag with her that contained most of her previous workshop/base/homes contents. Including the bathtub and bed. To make her headache even worse, she and Jack had somehow gotten themselves separated, meaning that she didn't just have to find a place to get a workshop/base set up, but also find Jack, who could be anywhere in the city.

"*sigh* perfect. Just perfect. Where the hell did that adorable little rascal of a little sister disappear to?" Wondered Raven out loud to herself while massaging her temples with her free hand. Seriously, where the hell was Jack anyway?

Speaking of the little serial killer, she had just castrated a creepy old man in the alley beneath her, by stabbing said creepy old man in the crotch, and was walking in her big sisters general direction based off of the magical connection the two of them shared. The reason she even castrated the guy in the first place? An instruction from Raven.

"_If someone that's significantly older than what you are physically tries to grab and take you away, stab 'em in between the legs, then run!"_ Echoed Raven's voice in Jack's head, remembering the instructions she had given Jack in case she was out scouting or got separated from her big sister. As Jack started to pick up speed as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, she put on a pair of black and gold colored wireless headphones and started playing music in 'em through a small music player in her pocket, midair. Without interrupting her flow, which eventually synchronized with the beat of the music. And said music was the theme song, Black + White, from the anime adaptation of the Japanese fantasy comedy, _**Problem Children Are Coming from Another World, Aren't They?**_ There was a particular show whose soundtrack, or intro at the very least, was included on the music player Jack was listening to. Raven had claimed that the show wasn't appropriate for someone at Jack's age to watch. And that shows title was _**Highschool DxD**_, a show that Raven was apparently watching, mostly because of its story, the eye candy and various forms to potentially imitate. Jack didn't really understand nor care for why her big sister didn't want her to watch that particular show since she preferred cartoons and light hearted comedies over whatever made shows like _**Highschool DxD **_inappropriate for her to watch.

"_Jack! Where the hell are you!?"_ Shouted Raven on her end of their telepathic connection.

"_On a rooftop on our way to you big sis."_ Answered Jack while closing her right eye as if wincing at the volume of Raven's shout.

"_Phew. Thank Hekate that you're alright."_

"_Any luck on finding us a new place to call home?"_

"_I really wish I could say yes to that, but I'd be lying if I did. So no. No luck as of yet. By the way, why can I hear music on your end? I thought I was the one carrying the music player. Did you pick it out of my pocket?"_

"… _maybe?"_

"_Whatever. We'll try and find a good place to set up shop once the two of us rendezvous."_

"_Ron-the-what-now?"_

"_Rendezvous. It basically means meeting up."_

"_Oh. So that's what that word means. In that case, estimated time of Ron-whatever-his-name-is, a few minutes. Give or take."_ Said Jack over the telepathic link in a somewhat joking tone, earning a snicker from Raven on the other end.

"_Heh. See ya soon Jack, and try not to kill anyone on your way."_ Said Raven on her end while chuckling.

About two hours later, Jack landed on a rooftop with an overview of the aftermath of what appeared to have been a one-sided beatdown of a street fight. With her big sister standing next to a knocked out thug, who despite being knocked out was grimacing in pain while holding his crotch, making it obvious that Raven had definitely kicked him there (multiple times, probably), while wearing boots made of dragon scales, which were as hard and durable as diamond. Simply shrugging at the scene, Jack jumped off the rooftop and into an alley before cheerfully skipping up to and giving her big sister a hug once she reached her.

"There you are! I was worried for you, ya little rascal." Exclaimed Raven while hugging Jack back. While this was going on, a police officer stepped up to Raven.

"Eh-hem." Exclaimed the cop, catching the attention of the two sisters, causing the _older _one to turn around to face him.

"Yes?"

"Mind explaining why the men surrounding us are unconscious and grimacing in pain while holding their crotches?" Asked the cop, shuddering and wincing himself at the last part.

"I can assure you, it was in self defense… mostly. These bozos hoped to get themselves fresh. Naturally I retaliated. A few kicks where the sun doesn't shine and they're passed out from the pain." Explained Raven without a single ounce or even a hint of shame or regret in her voice. "That really seemed to hurt… not that I would know, never been on the receiving end. But I do know that these boots aren't exactly soft."

"Boots made of what appears to be hardened leather, even if they're low heeled… ouch. You're gonna have to follow me to the station… for now at least."

A few hours later, Raven left the police station, with little Jack in toe, heading out in search for a (preferably) abandoned building to convert into a usable base of operations, preferably for the remaining duration of the Greater Grail War. Near the break of twilight, the sisters found the perfect building for them to set up shop in. It was mostly intact but it was clear that nobody actually used the building, since it was slightly run down. Upon seeing the grin that formed itself on Raven's face (and through a quick _brainscan_), Jack quickly figured out that her big sister was scheming something.

"What are you planning big sis? That face of yours is creeping us out." Exclaimed Jack, snapping Raven out of her scheming trance.

"Oh! Sorry for that. What I'm planning is to not only try and create a bounded field to keep people away… on second thought, I think putting its location under Fidelius with myself as secret-keeper will be enough." Explained Raven, more to herself out loud than to Jack. Upon casting the said spell, Fidelius, the Secret-Sealing Charm, Raven made a quick test to see if it worked, by asking Jack for the location of the building. It didn't seem to work at first, since Jack happily just pointed her finger at the building, but Raven then remembered that Jack was basically immune to most forms of attacks and magic that targeted the mind.

It took the two of them a while to do it, but eventually they finally managed to get their new workshop/base/home set up… mostly. The only thing that Raven hadn't done yet was hijacking the plumbing in order to get the bathtub set up… but that was something she could do at a later point in time, so for now, she'll just go to sleep along with Jack.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

"Wait! Let me get this straight. You accidentally had a run in with the Rider and Caster of the Red faction. And somehow managed to trick them into giving you their autographs, revealing their true names in the process." Said Raven, who couldn't really believe that what she was saying had actually happened, to Jack, who had just told Raven about her day. "And the identities of Rider and Caster are Achilles and William Shakespeare respectively? Did I miss something Jack?"

"Other then that Mr Slippy has no luck with the ladies and is an absolute sucker for kids? And that Mr Beardo talks funny? Nope!" Answered Jack, referring to Achilles and Shakespeare as Mr Slipper and Mr Beardo respectively, poking fun at either their legend or personality and appearance.

"Anyway. That makes my job of researching our opponents somewhat easier. On a different note, wanna stick around while I confuse the living hell out of the Black faction, and hopefully laugh my ass off afterwards with a prank call?" In response to Raven's question Jack rapidly nodded her head, knowing that her big sisters brand of humor would most likely guarantee a laugh.

Within the walls of the Yggdmillennia-castle, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia's phone suddenly started ringing, catching the attention of not only himself, but also everyone else who was nearby. Which included the other four Masters of the Black faction, along with their respective Servants, and a few homunculi. The fact that his phone was ringing was strange, as almost everyone who had his number was in the room with him, so who the hell could the person calling him be? Feeling quite a bit bored, he decided to humor whoever was calling him, and answered his phone.

"Hello." Said Darnic to the person on the other end of the phone call.

"**Hello to yourself, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia."** Answered the person on the other end (Raven).

"Who is this and how did you get this number!?"

"**Put your phone on speaker, then I might tell you."** Deciding to humor the caller, Darnic did what he was asked to do.

"Speaker's on. Now, tell me and everyone present who you are!"

"… **jeech. Relax will ya, ya fangless vampire!?"** Shouted the caller, causing a few of other masters to stare at the phone in disbelief. Nobody had the guts to casually insult Darnic like that. "**You wanted a name, right?"**

"Yes!" Shouted Darnic, who was starting to lose his patience, especially since the caller had just insulted him.

"**Call me… Incontinentia. Incontinentia Buttocks!"** This made a young voice on _Incontinentia's_ end of the phone call start laughing, and they weren't the only ones. Astolfo could be found rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter. Gilgamesh was struggling to suppress her own laughter. Frankie let loose a long series of growls and grunts in a pattern suspiciously similar to laughter. Avicebron's mask made it impossible to tell what his current state of emotion was, but judging by the fact he was just shaking his head suggested that he wasn't amused. Vlad just shook his head, though he had a clearly amused expression on his face. And some of the nearby homunculi were snickering. Though the homunculi immediately stopped when a (clearly-)less-than-sane woman who was wearing glasses sent them a glare.

"How dare you, you, you… BITCH!?" Shouted the insane woman in glasses, Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillennia, angrily, having lost her patience. "How dare you insult the head of the glorious Yggdmillennia-family!?"

"**Big Sis! Please make the scary old lady quiet!"** Pleaded the voice who had laughed earlier on _Incontinentia's_ end (Jack).

"OLD!? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING OLD YOU BRAT!?"

"Celenike. Behave yourself." Said Darnic in a quite intimidating tone, making Celenike shut up.

"… **thanks for that? She was scaring my little sister. By the way, if either my little sis or myself have a run in with her… she's dead."** Stated _Incontinentia_, while hesitantly thanking Darnic for shutting Celenike up.

"Noted."

"**Whatever. As they say in Japan, sayonara bitches!"** Shouted _Incontinentia _on her before hanging up. Of course, because of her insult, almost everyone in the room got quite angry, the only exception being Astolfo, who started laughing again.

At the same time in the previously abandoned building Raven had converted into a workshop/base of operations/home, the two sisters were laughing their butts off. In fact, Jack had been laughing so hard she accidentally rolled off the bed she and Raven had been sitting on during the prank call.

"You okay Jack?"

"We're okay!"

"Wanna make another prank call?"

"Definitely!" Exclaimed Jack as Raven tossed her the phone. When she caught it, she dialed in a random number and put the phone on speaker. After a short while, someone answered the call.

"**Hello Moe's Tavern. Moe speaking."** Said the person on the other end of the call, presumably someone named Moe.

"Hello to your self, we're hoping that a friend of ours is available." Said Jack. "First name, Mike. Last name, Rotch."

…

…

…

…

"… **nice try kid but I'm not falling for that. You're not the first one who has tried to make me say something embarrassing via a prank call."** Said Moe, somewhat amused at the attempted prank call, before hanging up.

…

…

…

"… well that didn't work." Said Jack after a minute or so.

"Well I guess it is like the saying goes, you win some, you lose some." Said Raven in response, admitting defeat. "Come on Jack, let's complete our scope of the competition shall we?"

"Does that mean more espionage and photography?"

"Yup. It does. I'll have you head out tonight."

"Got it big sis!"

About two minutes to midnight, Jack was outside and doing some espionage and photography again, with the main area of interest for tonight being the city of Trifas' local church. A place that she wasn't really happy about being near. When Raven asked her why she didn't like churches she said that she didn't know why she had a strong dislike for churches, she just didn't like churches. Raven guessed (privately) that one of the many souls forming the amalgamation of souls of unborn and discarded children in Victorian London, the entity known as Jack the Ripper, was the unborn bastard child of either a nun or a monk. Despite her clear dislike of churches and _holy ground_, Jack successfully infiltrated the church through the clock tower and managed to get herself a nearly complete overview of the Red faction from the rafters.

From the rafters, she managed to spot a total of four familiar faces amongst them. The first one was the Lancer of Red, Karna, also known as Mr. Shishkebab. The second one was the Archer of Red, Atalante, a.k.a the Cat-lady. The third one was the Rider of Red, Achilles, a.k.a Mr. Slippy. And last but not least was the Caster of Red, William Shakespeare, or as Jack had nicknamed him, Mr. Beardo. Mr. Slippy had a very fresh hand shaped mark on his chin, making it pretty clear that someone had recently slapped him (probably the Cat-lady, since she looked a bit grumpy). But amongst all of the familiar faces, there were two new ones as well.

The first one of the new faces belonged to a rather beautiful woman with a slightly elf like appearance. For some Jack didn't like the aura that she was radiating. It had a sense of indifference and poison. And the name that was revealed by the photo explained why the woman's aura had those characteristics. _**Semiramis**_, the world's first poisoner, the queen of Assyria. She was probably of the Assassin-class, but Jack's gut feeling told her that Semiramis wasn't someone she could kill without someone else… roughing the queen up first. And roughing up meant in more actual, practical, terms having someone else defeat or at least weaken the queen down to a degree where Jack could more easily kill her with her Noble Phantasm, Maria the Ripper, when it had all three conditions fulfilled and therefore was at full power… unless the queen had mid-to-high-ranked Magic Resistance.

The second new face belonged to a heavily tanned young man with genuine white hair. From what the sensation of his aura gave off, he immediately fell into the category of people that Jack would be more than happy to cut down or at the very least maim and leave in a dark alley to die. In other words, she didn't like him… at all. Not that either Jack nor the people beneath her noticed, one of Jack's eyes, specifically her left eye, changed color from yellowish green to emerald green, the telltale sign of Shared Perception between Jack and her big sister.

"_The Servants of Red and someone who appears to be one of them's master. Do you have a picture of the female peacock?"_ Asked Raven on her end of the telepathic link. In response to Raven's question, Jack just put the newly taken photo of the _female peacock_ instead of saying anything. "_Semiramis huh? She might be the enemy but she definitely has my respect. Snap a few pictures of the entire team and the tanned guy, then leave."_

"_Got it!"_ Exclaimed Jack, telepathically on her end. The photography went quite well, until she snapped a picture of the tanned male, which apparently caused Raven to do a spit take when she saw the name under his photo. "_Is something wrong big sis?"_

"_Yes! How the hell is he even here!? He's supposed to be dead!"_

"_Shirou Tokisada Amakusa is the name of a dead man? If that is the case then who's that guy? A descendent with the same name?"_

"_I honestly can't believe I'm saying this. Unlikely but not impossible. Considering the fact that Darnic been around since World War Two and how long the same people have been the heads of their respective families, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of him being the very same person his name originally belonged to."_

"_But if he is the same person as his name suggests he is… why isn't he six feet under?"_

"_Who cares? Come on and head home Jack. If you hurry we might have enough time for a bath before bedtime."_

"_Yay!"_ Exclaimed Jack over the telepathic connection as she started sneaking out of the church.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine:

Work smarter, not harder. This was, and still is, Raven's motto for most things in life and in combat. Though her favorite saying was _If something seems fair, something is wrong_, which could be easily reflected on her approach for the Greater Grail War, she didn't fight cleanly and used both dirty and underhanded tactics. An example of such tactics would be the use of blackmail, but she didn't have enough dirt on any member of either faction for any form of blackmail to actually make a difference. On a different note, she was gonna perform an experiment today, which could (if it worked well enough) potentially help her acquire information on how the situation stood within the Black and Red factions, simultaneously.

Said experiment involved a combination of the Bird-conjuring-charm, Avis, from the Witchcraft-tree of magic, Possess-and-Control, a branch of Sorcery and Thought-Acceleration along with Memory-Partition, common techniques used by Mages. What she essentially intended to do was to divide her mind into a small flock of conjured birds and use said flock to spy on both the Black and Red factions simultaneously, while she herself wouldn't be leaving the safety of her homebase. After opening a window, she proceeded with her experiment.

"Avis." Chanted Raven while drawing a slightly stylized version of the letter R with her right hand. This was her magical trigger motion. Since Sorcerers and Sorceresses very rarely had any form of _proper _magical training, they often used specific motions as triggers for their magic to activate, two practitioners of Sorcery very rarely having the same trigger motion. With a sound of a somewhat loud bang, a total of eight ravens appeared out of thin air. She couldn't resist the urge to release a snicker at the irony that her conjured birds were the namesake of her preferred name, Raven. That and the fact that they were at the same time quite convenient for what she intended to use the conjured birds for, after all, ravens were everywhere in the world and nobody would raise any real suspicion like a less globally common family of birds would. Not that she has actually told anyone, but she was secretly envious of birds, having the freedom to go anywhere they wanted in the world. "Time for some espionage. Cerebro." With the chant for the Possession-spell from the Sorcery-tree of magic, Cerebro, Raven's eyes closed as her mind got divided across the flock of eight conjured ravens. With unified squawk, the now possessed birds fly out through the window and scatter.

While Raven were proceeding with her experiment, Jack on the other hand was bored out her damn mind. In order to deal with her boredom, she started messing with some of Raven's collection of magical items and random pieces of mundane junk that were just lying around their home. Which included the Philosopher Stones Raven harvested from the golems during the first month of her and Jack's involvement (or rather lack thereof) in the Greater Grail War. Not really knowing what she was doing, Jack just grabbed one of the Philosopher Stones and a rather large piece of (relatively) shiny metal. After playing for a few minutes, Jack got bored again and accidentally lost her grip on the Philosopher's Stone and piece of metal, making both of them hit the floor and each other, which causes an unexpected reaction and a bright red light. Once the light faded, Jack's gaze fell upon the result of her little accident and what she saw made her eyes widen in both surprise and awe.

"Oooh pretty. But now we wonder if big sis will be happy or mad at us for this? Meh we'll just have to wait and see." Said Jack, holding a short conversation with the many souls she was born from.

Somewhere else in the area surrounding Trifas, one of Raven's ravens were following the Servant that had been watching the duel between Karna and the assumed Saber of Black, who hadn't been seen since said duel, as they traversed the landscape at a rather fast pace, but not fast enough for a bird to be unable to keep up. As the Servant stopped for a short while after a few minutes of running, the possessed raven (and by extension Raven herself) landed on a nearby tree branch within hearing distance as the Servant muttered something out loud to herself.

"Merde. Something is definitely wrong with this Grail War. Calm yourself Ruler, now's not the time for worrying." If ravens had eyebrows, then the possessed bird that was following Ruler would have raised one of them in slight confusion at Rulers muttering. Doing an avian equivalent of a shrug, the bird took off and resumed following the Heroic Spirit.

Meanwhile at the Yggdmillennia castle, most of the masters were busy doing… something, while the Servants were doing… other things. The Archer of Black, Gilgamesh Alter-A-F, and the Lancer of Black, Vlad the III Tepes, were playing a game of chess while discussing philosophy. The Rider of Black, Astolfo, on the other hand had somehow managed to drag the master of Archer, Fiore Yggdmillennia, and a few homunculi into a game of poker. From what the possessed bird spying on the poker-match could see, Fiore appeared to be winning.

At the same time, three of Raven's ravens were spying on the Servants of Red, specifically Achilles, Atalante and William Shakespeare. Karna was nowhere to be seen, the same for the Assassin of Red, Semiramis. The three Servants that were visible however seemed, for lack of a better word, bored. Achilles eventually got fed up with the silence and boredom and tried (and succeeded) to start a conversation.

"Have the two of you been receiving very few direct orders from your actual masters instead of _relayed _orders through the priest, or am I the only one?" Asked Achilles, earning surprised looks from the other two Heroic Spirits.

"It pains me slightly to admit this, but it appears that I'm not the only one who has been receiving less and less direct orders from my actual master recently." Admitted Atalante, while seemingly trying to suppress a frown.

"It is something of a tragedy, but I two must confess that my situation is similar if not identical to the two of yours." Exclaimed Shakespeare, while shaking his head. At this point Atalante stopped trying to suppress her frown and started cursing under her breath.

"Something is wrong with this Grail War. I don't know what it is but I do know that something is wrong, I can feel it." Exclaimed Atalante. Raven took that as her cue that she had had enough espionage for now and cut the connection between her ravens and her mind. Resulting in her mind returning to her actual body at her homebase.

A second later after _waking up_, her mind was promptly bombarded by all the information she gathered through her experiment. Then, as if on cue, Jack entered through the door with… was that a bird-shaped golem, with what looked like a Philosopher Stone as a core, made out of what appeared to be metal, sitting on top of Jack's head!?

"Jack…" Said Raven slowly, earning the attention of the Heroic Spirit of the hidden blade. "where did that bird-shaped golem come from?"

"It was an accident! We were just playing with some junk and a Philosopher Stone!" Exclaimed Jack in a somewhat panicked tone. "And the result of said accident is the pretty bird-thing."

"*sigh* well, there goes an emergency Philosopher Stone to waste." Exclaimed Raven, talking for the most part to herself in a tone of disappointment. "*sigh* what's done is done. We still have a few Stones left. I'm not angry at you Jack, maybe a little disappointed, but not angry. Come on Jack, let's go and get something to eat. All this espionage has made me hungry. I know that you don't need to eat, but I'd feel a guilty if I am the only one who's eating."


End file.
